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The role of Iago in Othello
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The impact of iago on othello
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Manipulations of Othello in William Shakespeare's Play
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Recommended: The role of Iago in Othello
Manipulations of Othello in William Shakespeare's Play
One of the main themes running through Othello is jealousy. Othello's
jealousy for Desdemona and Bianca's for Cassio. The catalyst for this
jealously though is Iago's manipulation of the characters and their
own failure to communicate and trust one another over Iago.
These massive doses of jealousy lead to death and the downfall of the
hero of the play. On the surface it seems like Iago is the cause of
this, so why does the audience often feel empathy towards Iago, and
even enjoy his clever manipulations?
Iago has by far the most soliloquies in Othello, more than the title
character, and he uses them slightly differently to Othello or, for
example, Macbeth, who both use the soliloquies to describe their feels
and passions. They act more like they are talking to themselves than
to the audience. However, Iago talks to the audience and brings us in
to his world. This is an attempt to bridge the gap between the
audience and the characters. He talks about his plans and hints at his
motives (he claims to Roderigo that Othello has slept with Emilia, his
wife) but, most interestingly of all, he constantly tries to justify
his evil actions.
'And what's he then that says I play the villain,
When this advice is free I give and honest?'
He brings into question the audience's core morality. The audience,
for our part, seems to lap up his words and enjoy with some sort of
sadistic pleasure his extremely talented actions. Iago is one of
Shakespeare's most complex villains.
'We cannot all be masters, nor all masters
Cannot be truly followed…
Heaven is my judge'
Maybe the question we should be asking is not why the audience may
enjoy Iago, but why Iago makes the effort to make us enjoy his
actions. He craves to control other people's lives and then see their
downfall. He sees himself as the director of a play and every play
must have an audience. Parallels could be found in the psychoanalysis
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